The Importance Of Drinking Water

Hiya lovebugs!

I have been dying to write a post about the importance of drinking water for the longest time!  Especially after doing my Periscope video and naming water one of my top favorite healthy products!  Hydration + Lots of water equals Happy Body!

Before I embarked on my healthy journey, I was gluten-free but I wasn't so healthy, and I rarely ever drank water!  I look back to that time and often wonder what I was thinking.  How could I only drink water at the gym, or when I was sick or on the hottest Summer's day and not any other time?  Drinking water is one of the most important things we can do for our health, in fact our bodies are comprised of over 70% water!  Before I was sold on water being my main squeeze, I hated water and refused to drink it.  For decades, I only drank juice (Snapple, juice boxes, flavored iced tea), soda, milk, coffee, and milkshakes.   That is all the "nutritional" liquid I drank.

As a child, I thought water was disgusting.  It had no flavor.  And I couldn't understand how everyone else loved it so much and drank it all the time.  It tasted like nothing.  I couldn't fathom drinking water full time at age 12 through age 30! Sometime after 30, I transitioned into water with and only with lots of lemon and limes.  There had to be a flavor if I was going to drink lots and lots of water, until the dentist told me that the enamel on my teeth would ruin because of the acidity of the citrus.  So I tried every fruit possible to change the taste like strawberries, blackberries, and even tried cucumber.  I hated to break it to the world but Spa Water was not the same as juice!  Soon after that,  I was introduced to Coconut Water.  It tasted good, and had been advertised as having more electrolytes then Gatorade and was considered a natural hydrator. Score!

I really tried to get around drinking water, and to this day, I just don't know why.

One deadly hot Summer circa 2012, I spent the weekend in Dallas, Texas.  Woah Nelly!  If I learned anything from that trip, it was the ability to not only drink water by the sip, but gulp it by the gallon.  The dry hot heat was enough to convince me that coconut water was NOT going cut it.  Just stepping out of the car and hanging outside for five minutes made me sweat bullets.  It actually looked like I had just been through a rain storm.   It was that hot.  There was no other response from me other then: I NEED TO HAVE WATER - STAT! That was the first time I ever felt that way.  And from that day forward, I never looked back.  Water became my drink of choice.

When I reflect back to all those years of drinking juice, all I can think about is how much SUGAR I voluntarily put in my body.   It was like a sugar shit show in my body, no wonder many decades later I got diagnosed with a yeast overgrowth otherwise known as Candida.  When I look back to that time, I think to myself, how could I have gone 30-something years without water being my drink of choice? How could I have thought that drinking juice would awaken my insides and satisfy my body in a healthy way? How could I have thought I could get by without water?  Just like you need to "get by with a little help from your friends" (The Beatles), you also need to get by with water.  Which brings me to the now, to here, in this post where I tell all of you the importance of drinking water.  Since that time in Dallas, I have only gotten more clear on the power of water.  And now the only liquids I drink are water (my main squeeze), herbal tea, green juices, green smoothies and on the rarest occasion decaf coffee. I go through so much water, I often have to hit the market twice in one week just to pick up enough gallons to satisfy my thirst!

Too often I see friends and family barely touch their water.  Perhaps they take two sips of a small 16 oz water bottle (the small ones) and then toot their own horn and say "yeah, I'm not a water drinker".  Peeps!  This is not something to toot!  Please do not be proud that you don't drink water.

Newsflash - water is your lifeline, it is the foundation of life!

• Water generates life on this planet
• The human body is composed of 25 percent solid matter and 75% water
• Backaches, headaches, and digestive problems may be caused by dehydration
• When we starve body cells of water, they start to react differently
• Thirst should not be treated with medication
• Understanding dehydration will empower you to be healthy, or healthier
• By drinking water, you can solve a lot of your own ailments

Drinking water helps our vitamins, nutrients and food go down.  Because that is where you want all of it to go - DOWN.  Down into your digestive tract where it can be separated and given to each organ to keep our bodies healthy.  If that is coming back up, it's going in the wrong direction.  Water helps with flow.

If you are hungry, or you think you are hungry, drink a glass of water first. Sometimes our brain just thinks we are hungry when really we may be dehydrated or even bored.

When you have a headache, drinking a glass of water can calm it because it may be dehydration that is fueling the headache, rather then pain from somewhere else.

When you have tight muscles, drink water, it gets your circulation going.

Water can also help you loose weight!

Water can help clear up your skin.

Water can help curb sugar cravings, and lack of water can create them!

Drinking 1 cold glass of water in the morning can wake your body up out of a long slumber, put the fire out and get the engine running faster then coffee and tea. I'm not saying take out the coffee or the tea, but I am saying, chug a water beforehand!  Back in college the motto was, "Chug a beer, chug a beer!", let's change that phrase to "chug a water, chug a water".

Lastly, how much water should you drink?

Some say drink when thirsty

Some say drink 8 cups per day

And others say up to 15 cups per day.

The answer is, that everyone's body is different and will depend on:

• Age
• Activity
• Climate
• Diet
• Health Concerns

 For Your Information:

• Coffee, tea, soda, alcohol and energy drinks are not considered water, and do not do the same as water does for your body.
• They contain water, but also contain dehydrating agents
• Do not treat dehydration with these drinks.

It took me a very long time to see the big picture when it came to water.  I'm so thankful that water has been my main squeeze for a couple of years now.  I don't want it to take that long for you.  So, be your own cheerleader for your health. Eventually your brain will catch up and water will naturally become your drink of choice.

Start hydrating!  Drink water!